O.T. - Vampire "Martin"

[Philippe Cordier]

I caught the last half hour or so of what looked like a rather unusual vampire movie on a local cable access station the other night called "Martin."  It looked extremely low budget but at the same time was visually quite interesting -- and the story itself appeared to be highly original.

I always like books or movies that follow the 18th and 19th century literary convention of eponymous novels -- "Pamela," "Emma," "Tom Jones," "Joseph Andrews," "Basil," "Maurice," etc.  So even the title rather intrigued me.

Was just curious if others have seen it.  I had never heard of the director, whose name I caught in the closing credits - "George Romero."

[Maria_Merriweather]

George Romero directed "Night of the Living Dead".

[LdyAnne]

Haven't seen it but here is a write up from Yahoo:
"Director George Romero turns the vampire genre on its ear in this creepy, original 1978 effort. John Amplas stars as the title character--an alienated, depressed, and fangless 18-year-old denizen of an industrial town who is compelled to kill and drink blood. But is he really a vampire, or is he merely suffering from psychosis? His elderly uncle Cuda (Lincoln Maazel), whom Martin lives with and in whose grocery store he works, seems to believe the former, calling the young man Nosferatu and waving garlic and crosses in his face. But Martin isn't that type of vampire--he prefers to use syringes and razor blades for his bloodletting. The film takes an interesting turn when the lonely youth turns to a radio call-in program to talk about his compulsion. While this twist could easily be played for laughs, in Romero's hands it becomes insightful and unsettling.

A deliberate character study, MARTIN has intense performances, a uniquely disturbing mood, and an effectively grainy, shadowy look. Romero's eccentric vampire film avoids hitting on a gut level, choosing to shock viewers on a psychological one instead. "

http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&id=1800093785&cf=info&intl=us

LdyAnne

[Philippe Cordier]

That description seems very accurate from what I saw of the movie.  It didn't have any of the trappings of a "traditional" vampire movie -- this was something up-to-date and unique.  Going by comments on imdb and elsewhere, it's very highly thought of (and with intelligent comments explaining why).

I'm trying to see if the DVD is available anywhere, but not having much luck so far.

[Philippe Cordier]

I'm trying to see if the DVD is available anywhere, but not having much luck so far.

The DVD of "Martin" was released by Anchor Bay in 2000.  Everyplace lists it as out of stock.  Then I found it at my old standby for VHS tapes, Critics Choice Video (ccvideo).  Strangely, after placing my order and getting a "Thank you for your order" e-mail message, I still haven't received a confirmation number for my order, which I was supposed to receive "soon."  I've e-mailed ccvideo, and they seem to have no record of my order (even though I copied and pasted their "Thank You" email in my message to them).  In the meantime, "Martin" no longer appears on their website!

However, a google search (man, I must really want this movie ...) lists "Martin" as scheduled for release on DVD on Nov. 11 from Artisan Entertainment.

I tried to find Artisan's website, but they have just been taken over by Lions Gate.  When I finally tracked down a Lions Gate/Artisan webpage listing upcoming DVD releases, "Martin" was not mentioned.